KEPCO teams up with Areva in uranium mining

South Korea’s power monopoly KEPCO has signed an agreement with France’s Areva SA to develop uranium mines around the world. Areva owns six uranium mines overseas with a combined 2009 output of 6500t and the agreement will allow KEPCO to participate in developing them.

“KEPCO aims to secure up to 50 per cent of the nation’s uranium demand from its own-developed foreign mines by 2020,” KEPCO CEO Kim Ssang-soo said. The company has also acquired a stake in Canada’s Denison Mines and is exploring two uranium mines there. It plans to buy more stakes in uranium mines or mining firms in Africa and central Asia this year. (The Chosun Ilbo, South Korea)